Small Pickups Struggling in Crash Tests

I always thought it’d be neat to have a small pickup. You could haul random furniture and the occasional engine crane without having to make arrangements with one of those friends who’s always getting their truck borrowed—and you wouldn’t have to deal with a cumbersome hulk that doesn’t fit into a standard parking space. With gas being what it is, a lot of truck fans are flocking to small and midsize pickups. But safety-minded types are fretting that these mini-rigs aren’t doing as well in crash tests as they should be, particularly in side-impact wrecks. The twin Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon got a rating of poor, with a bunch of other trucks scoring "marginal"—the Dakota, Raider, Ranger, Mazda B-Series, and Frontier. Only the Tacoma performed decently, and only because they let it test with side airbags. Side wrecks accounted for 9,000 motorist deaths in ‘06, trailing behind front-enders. The take-home message: don’t get T-boned. But you guys have already agreed that you’d give up 5-star safety for better gas mileage, and if the general public is anything like you, I don’t think the crash tests are going to prevent little pickups from flooding the market in coming years.